Sprint Car owner David Helm dies

Racing Community Remembers Car Owner David Helm
CONCORD, N.C. -- February 21, 2007 -- In a sport where standing out in
a crowd is a way to get ahead, David Helm never sought the spotlight.
Instead, one of the most humble men in sprint car racing...

Racing Community Remembers Car Owner David Helm

CONCORD, N.C. -- February 21, 2007 -- In a sport where standing out in
a crowd is a way to get ahead, David Helm never sought the spotlight.
Instead, one of the most humble men in sprint car racing became one of
its most respected car owners.

Helm, who lost his battle with illness over the weekend, quietly
became one of sprint car racing's leaders. Running his No. 11H team
out of Selma, Calif., Helm first raced regionally in California before
eventually taking the team on the road with the World of Outlaws.

While the team had many victories, perhaps its most cherished win came
just a week ago at Volusia Speedway Park when Kerry Madsen drove the
Selma Shell Maxim to the checkered flag. Helm was in the hospital, but
the news of his team's victory lifted his spirits.

"Dave gave it everything he could," said Sonny Kratzer, Helm's long-
time friend and team manager. "He made it a lot longer than any doctor
thought it would go. I can tell you the win the young men pulled off in
Florida, he told everybody about it. He had a picture of the racecar up
in his room. After they won, he told everybody, 'My car won in Florida
and those boys did a great job.'"

Madsen, who took over the driving duties in the middle of the 2006
season, was still getting to know Helm when he earned the win.

"I talked to Dave that morning and you could tell he was really
struggling," Madsen said. "He called me after the win and he was like a
kid in a candy store, talking 100 miles an hour. Sonny told me what that
win meant to both of them."

That most likely was one of the few times Helm allowed himself to get
excited. He was known for being balanced. He never got too high or too
low, and that's illustrated through some of the stories told by those
who knew him best.

"About 10 years ago at Eldora during the Kings Royal weekend we were
leaving the race track and it had rained all night," Kratzer said. "I
don't think we left the race track until 3 in the morning. We were the
first truck to go out the gate and the truck never made it. It slid back
down the hill and the back of the trailer knocked the fence down. It
tore up the truck and everything in it. We didn't have a top wing, we
didn't have a front wing. The mule was sitting up on top of the racecar.
We had to cut the back door to get it open. By the time we got up out of
the racetrack and had the thing up on top where we could get unhooked
from the truck, it had to be 5 a.m. In all this mess, Dave hadn't said a
word. The first words out of his mouth weren't, 'You tore all my stuff
up.' He looked at all these people sitting around in the pit area and
said, 'Aw Sonny. We're going to have these guys mad at us.' I said,
'Dave, I'm pretty sure they're not going to be mad at us when they see
the mess we've got going here.' He said, 'I feel bad for these guys
because they can't get out.' I said, 'Do you want to race tomorrow or do
you want us to get everything fixed?' He said, 'We came all this way,
let's race."

As Kratzer and the team was trying to get a car together to compete,
Helm was up sitting on a four-wheeler giving away to kids some of the
items destroyed in the incident. He gave one kid a broken wing and
signed the driver's name on it because the driver wasn't around.

"Dave's the kind of guy that you're glad you met," Kratzer said. "Years
later, you can say, 'Hey man, I really had a great time with Dave.' I
don't think the man ever said a cross word to anybody or ever made a
driver or anybody who was working for us feel unwelcome."

His loss will be felt throughout sprint car racing.

"David's passion for the sport touched everybody who was around him,"
said DIRT MotorSports President and CEO Tom Deery. "No doubt his
enthusiasm will be greatly missed."

Charlie Garrett is one of those people Helm touched. Garrett built the
motors for Helm's cars and the two became fast friends.

"Dave would come in here to my shop and it was always special because he
was such a down-to-earth person," Garrett said. "I've worked for a lot
of people in this business and he's got to be the best person I've ever
worked for, friend-wise and business-wise. You meet a lot of people and
every once in a while in your life, this special guy comes along. He
was that special guy. He never complained about anything. He was just
that type of guy. He was just such a humble individual. It's hard to put
it all in words. He was a great friend and a tremendous person to do
business with. I doubt I'll ever meet another person like him. I know
racing has lost a good man. At least I had the experience of being with
him."

Growing up and racing in California, Paul McMahan knew Helm long before
either began racing nationally. Eventually, McMahan would climb into
Helm's car on the World of Outlaws circuit.

"I knew Dave even before I drove for him," McMahan said. "I raced
against his cars every Saturday night in Hanford, Calif. He was just
one of those guys who would help anybody. He was a friendly individual.
There wasn't a guy in the pit area that could say they had a problem
with Dave Helm.

"He never got upset about anything. He would take the good with the bad.
The thing I recall the most is we were at Calistoga Speedway. We were in
third and Joey Saldana was in second. He lost a muffler and I ran over
it and backed into the fence and destroyed his racecar. It was a brand
new racecar, only two nights on it. Dave says, "Hey, are you OK?" It was
no big thing. The very next race we run is the Gold Cup at Chico and we
win a preliminary night. Dave never got excited. He took the good with
the bad so well.

"When I got hurt at Knoxville, here I am laying in the hospital and he
wasn't worried about who he was going to put in the racecar, he was
at the hospital every day with me to make sure I was OK. When it came
down to finding a driver -- we had to put a driver in it because of the
points situation we were in -- he left it up to me, he wanted me to feel
comfortable with whomever was in that racecar. That's who Dave was."

The Selma Shell Racing team already was a motivated bunch this season.
No doubt it will be aiming for another victory in Helm's honor.

"The only thing I feel bad about is that he was really looking forward
to this year," Kratzer said. "I'm sure wherever he is, he'll be keeping
an eye on us because that's the kind of guy he is."

The viewing will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Page
Funeral Chapel in Selma.

The funeral service will be at 9 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in
Selma. It will be followed by a reception at the Selma Portuguese Hall.
There will be a graveside service with military honors at 1 p.m.